Ban on Supreme Court protests ruled unconstitutional

6/13/13 9:47 AM EDT

A law banning certain forms of protest on Supreme Court grounds violates the First Amendment, a U.S. district court judge ruled on Tuesday, as the court prepares to issue its most-anticipated opinions of the term.

Harold Hodge Jr. was arrested on the Supreme Court plaza in January 2011 for wearing a protest sign and standing “quietly and peacefully” by the court. He sued in 2012 because he wanted to be allowed to protest on the plaza again.

The law states it is illegal to “parade, stand or move in processions or assemblages” on Supreme Court grounds or to display a “flag, banner or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice a party, organization or movement.”

D.C. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell agreed with Hodge that the law unconstitutionally restricts free speech, issuing a summary judgment striking down the law.

Calling the measure “repugnant to the First Amendment,” in her 68-page opinion (posted here), Howell ruled the law was overbroad and unreasonably restrictive.

“It cannot possibly be consistent with the First Amendment for the government to so broadly prohibit expression in virtually any form in front of a courthouse, even the Supreme Court, in the name of concerns about ‘ingress and egress’ and ‘preserving the appearance of the Court as a body not swayed by external influence,’” Howell wrote.